


Daddy's Girl

by Mia_Vaan



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, As in Scrooge literally found a member of his family without knowing it, Caring Scrooge McDuck, Cuteness overload, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Irony, Parent Scrooge McDuck, Protective Scrooge McDuck, What if?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-26
Packaged: 2021-03-27 04:00:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30116829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mia_Vaan/pseuds/Mia_Vaan
Summary: SPOILERS FOR THE FINALE!A collection of snippets from an alternate universe in which Scrooge joined Beakley on her final mission and ended up adopting Webby without even knowing she's his daughter.
Relationships: Scrooge McDuck & Webby Vanderquack
Comments: 73
Kudos: 144





	1. False Alarm

**Author's Note:**

> So this concept came to me after the finale and wouldn't leave me alone. And since I have way too much on my plate right now, I only had time to write this little scene. If anyone wants to take this idea and run with it, go ahead. :) 
> 
> Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me, etc.

Scrooge was jolted from his sleep by the mansion’s alarms and it took a moment for his mind to catch up with what he was hearing.

_Alarms… defences breached… intruder… Webby!_

He was out of his room before that last thought had even finished forming in his mind. His adopted daughter’s cries could barely be heard over the blaring alarms, but they forced his legs to move faster. If anything happened to her…

The sprint to her room ended with Scrooge throwing the door open. He didn’t waste any time in hurrying to her crib and scooping her into his arms. Webby’s arms were flailing as she screamed, and Scrooge cradled her close to his chest as he shut the door and took up a defensive position in the corner of the room. He was in his nightgown and he’d left his cane back in his own room, but that didn’t matter. All he needed to defend her was his mind and his wits.

It was almost reminiscent of the day he found her. The alarms, the danger… Scrooge couldn’t even remember how Beakley had managed to convince him to join her on what would be her final mission for SHUSH. In hindsight, it didn’t matter. When he’d broken into FOWL’s lab, all he’d found was a baby girl staring up at him with her big, adorable eyes. She’d pressed her hand against the glass, he’d done the same, and in that moment the child had become his. His to protect. His to love.

There hadn’t been time to go through the computers to search for answers. The lab had started to collapse, so Scrooge had grabbed her and carried her to safety. He hadn’t let her go, not even when Beakley had asked to look at her.

That had been months ago. Scrooge looked down at the girl in his arms, who was still screaming.

He hadn’t wanted another family after losing what was left of his own. His wounded heart should have compelled him to give the child to someone else. But something inside him had rebelled at the notion, something he thought had died when Della went missing. And so, he made her a McDuck; a member of his family. She was all he had left now.

The alarms stopped, but Scrooge didn’t drop his guard. He only relaxed when a familiar voice outside of the room said, “All clear. Breach secured.”

“Come in, Beakley.”

His old friend opened the door and stepped inside. It was hard to picture the former SHUSH Agent as a housekeeper, but Beakley had settled into her role surprisingly well. She had insisted on it when Scrooge adopted the girl. On paper it was to ensure that the child never fell back into FOWL’s hands. In truth, the baby had melted the agent’s heart too, turning her into an honorary grandmother like it was her true purpose all along.

She was the one who chose the name Webbigail; a duck variant of the name Abigail. _Father’s joy_ , it meant. Scrooge had smiled on the inside upon learning that.

“It was a false alarm,” she reported.

“False alarm?” Scrooge repeated in disbelief. His alarm system was top of the range. He’d expected FOWL, or even the Beagle Boys to be breaking in. What kind of “false alarm” could trip the system?

“It was a raccoon,” said Beakley. “It broke into the kitchen and was rummaging through the trash.”

A raccoon. A raccoon had managed to get into the house. If one tiny animal could get in… “Call Gyro in the morning. Have him come over to look for a breach in the system.”

“Of course.” Beakley’s gaze turned to Webby, who was still crying. “I can take her, if you like?”

Scrooge shook his head. Though he trusted Beakley with not just his own life, but with Webby’s too, he wasn’t sure he could hand his child over after that scare. He wouldn’t be able to sleep. “No, thank you, Beakley. I’ve got this.”

Beakley nodded. “Goodnight, then.”

The door closed, and Scrooge was alone with his daughter – who was still crying.

Not that this was unusual. Since coming to the mansion, Webby seemed to have made it her life’s goal to ensure he and Beakley never got any sleep. She cried when she was hungry, cried when she needed a diaper change, cried when she just wanted attention from one of them…

And it hadn’t taken Scrooge very long to come up with a sure-fire way to calm her down.

“ _But I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more…_ ” He accompanied the singing with bouncing her up and down in time with the rhythm.

Like the many times he’d sung the song before, it worked. It didn’t take very long at all for Webby to stop crying. She giggled, a sound that was music to Scrooge’s ears, before she reached out her hand and grabbed his bill.

Scrooge chuckled. “It’s alright, my darling Webby. You’re safe now.”

He settled himself in the rocking chair next to her crib, and as he began rocking back and forwards, he continued to hum the song quietly. Webby stared up at him with her wide-eyed baby stare, enthralled. Looking down at her, Scrooge couldn’t help but wonder if she would be just as adventurous as him when she was older. If that turned out to be the case, he could only imagine what a handful she’d be once she started walking. Was the world ready for two Scrooge McDucks?

Sometimes, he would swear she looked exactly like him, before shaking his head and dismissing the notion. She wasn’t even related to him.

Webby’s eyes slid closed, and Scrooge stroked her forehead with the tips of his fingers. “Goodnight, wee one.”

Instead of placing her back in her crib, he continued to hold her close. One night wouldn’t hurt. And after everything he’d lost and what could have happened if the intruder had been something far more dangerous than a raccoon…

He couldn’t lose anyone else.

Scrooge only hoped that if they ever found out the truth about Webby, or even who she’d been made from, she would still want him to be her father. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you didn't know, the song is 'I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)' by The Proclaimers, who are David Tennant's favourite band.


	2. Nightmares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this got way more popular than I was expecting. Um, have some more?

Scrooge McDuck was having one of his insomnia nights.

He could do nothing but stare blankly at the ceiling, not even daring to close his eyes. Whenever he did, he saw it all again; the Spear of Selene taking off into the sky, Della’s transmission cutting out, Donald taking the unhatched eggs and vowing never to step foot in the mansion again…

His bedroom door creaked open, letting in a sliver of light. Scrooge quickly sat upright, expecting to see the outline of Beakley or Duckworth, but saw no one. Initially.

There was something small hurrying across the floor in the dark, before that something leapt onto his bed and then onto him, pinning him against his mattress. A few seconds passed, and when Scrooge realised he wasn’t being punched or eaten or having his soul sucked out of him, he quickly figured out who it was.

“Webbigail?” He rested a gentle hand on her head, and thanks to the light from the hallway, he saw that she was curled up in a ball on top of him. Her small fists were clutching his nightgown like a lifeline and her eyes were screwed shut. She was also trembling slightly, and Scrooge vowed to destroy whatever had turned her into this timid little thing. “Webby darling, what’s wrong?”

The spooked three-year-old refused to respond, so Scrooge started to stroke the top of her head in order to soothe her. He gradually felt her relax; her trembling stopped and her grip on his nightgown loosened. Eventually, she opened her eyes, turned to look at him and said, “I had a bad dream.”

Scrooge didn’t know how to respond. Webby was such a happy child; always smiling, practically bounced off the walls in excitement. This was the first time she’d had a nightmare. He wondered what it could possibly have been about. Sitting himself upright again, he asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

His adopted daughter hurriedly shook her head, closed her eyes again and buried her head in his chest. “Don’t wanna.”

“Fair enough,” he said. He never felt like talking about his nightmares, either. “Shall I walk you back to your room?”

Webby shook her head again. “No. Too dark.”

“But it’s dark in here, lass,” he pointed out.

“Daddy here.”

That one word was like lighting a match in his heart. He couldn’t help but smile down at her and figured that it wouldn’t hurt to let her sleep in his room for one night. She didn’t want to be alone in the dark. It was a completely rational fear for a child her age, and one easily fixed. Scrooge mentally added ‘go out and buy some sort of night light’ to his list of things to do the next day. Or he could get her some of those glowy stars to stick on the ceiling of her room. And a glowy moon. Della had planned to get some for the triplets…

No. He wasn’t going to think about them.

But it was hard _not_ to, when he had Webby. She was the same age as the boys, and she reminded him so much of Della. That spirit. That laugh. It was like having her back again, something that both filled him with joy but also dread. Losing Della had almost destroyed him. Losing Webby would be the final blow.

He couldn’t let anything happen to her. Beakley had already agreed to train her and home-school her so she wouldn’t have to leave the mansion to get an education, but she would have to leave one day and a lot of his enemies were still out there like the Beagles and Glomgold and uncountable others…

Not to mention FOWL. Did they know where she was? Did they want her back?

Scrooge slowly laid back down again, keeping his daughter close. She happily slid onto the bed and snuggled against his side. The girl was no longer scared, now that she was close to her father. Webby had faith in him; faith that he would protect her.

Slipping a protective arm around her, Scrooge only hoped that he could live up to that unwavering faith. 


	3. Wake Up

“Daddy, wake up!”

Scrooge’s half-awake mind had barely registered the words before something landed on his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. His eyes snapped open and there was Webby, sitting on him, her expression filled with unbridled joy.

Curse his kilts, he didn’t have it in him to be angry at her, not even first thing in the morning. “Webbigail, darling, was that really necessary?”

“I had to make sure I could wake you up!” the five-year-old insisted. “What if the Dream Lord had captured your soul and was keeping you locked in an endless nightmare? I would have to rescue you!”

Her accent was somewhere in between his Scottish one and Beakley’s English one. And it was, for lack of a better word, adorable. But he would never dare to say that out loud. “Well, when you put it that way, lass… Thank you.”

Duckworth appeared in the open doorway. “My apologies, sir. I would have awoken you myself, but young Webbigail insisted that she be the one to disturb your slumber.”

Scrooge had known Duckworth long enough to tell that the man wasn’t sorry at all. He was probably laughing on the inside. “That’s OK, Duckworth. You’re dismissed.”

The butler nodded his head before leaving.

Webby climbed off of Scrooge and began jumping up and down on the bed in a way that suggested she’d found the secret candy stash and had gorged herself. “What’re we gonna do today, Daddy? Hallway Golf? Ultimate Money Counting? Oh! Can you show me the Sword Horse you’re keeping in the Other Bin?”

“No.” Scrooge sat upright and rubbed his head. He was already developing a headache. Which was normal, but he didn’t usually get one until his meeting with Bradford.

“Oh! I can show you a new trick I learned with my grappling hook!” She removed said grappling hook from… who knew where, aimed it at the upper panel of the four-poster bed and fired. It hooked onto the panel and she swung from it, performing a flip in the air before landing on the window seat. “Ta da!”

Despite the fact that he was still feeling a bit grouchy (which was perfectly normal first thing in the morning, and wouldn’t go away until he had his first cup of tea), Scrooge beamed with pride at his daughter’s accomplishment. Her training with Beakley was coming along nicely. “Great work, lass! Beakley will make a spy out of you yet!”

“Neat! Oh, and there’s this other move I’ve been working on,” she said. “Granny said I’m probably too young to be trying it, but…”

It all happened so fast.

She jumped, aiming for the bed, but whatever she was trying to accomplish couldn’t be done at the angle of the grappling hook’s current position. The hook came loose and she started to fall, and though she wasn’t very far from the floor, the sight of her falling sent a shard of fear right through Scrooge’s heart.

In less than a second he’d grabbed his cane and hooked it around Webby’s foot. He then carefully pulled her towards him so she was hanging above the mattress.

When he noticed her arms hanging down, the worry melted away and he gave her a smirk. “Oh no, the Fiendish Money Miser has captured his arch enemy, the Chosen McDuck! And he knows her greatest weakness!”

With his free hand, he reached out and began to tickle her under her arms. Webby laughed – but not for long. She managed to swing herself back and forwards from his cane before launching herself at him, knocking him down onto the bed.

Standing over him triumphantly, she declared, “And I know _your_ greatest weakness!”

And she turned the tables and tickled him.

The game went on for several minutes, both of them gaining the upper hand several times before they finally ran out of breath and collapsed in a heap, Webby on top of her father.

Scrooge wiped a tear from his eye. “Bless me bagpipes, that was fun. But I really need my morning tea. What would you like for breakfast, lass?”

He climbed out of bed and opened his arms, letting Webby jump into them. “Pancakes!” she cried.

The billionaire chuckled. “Well, I’m sure your Granny can cook something up.” 


	4. Sick Day

When Webby didn’t show up for breakfast, Scrooge knew something was wrong. She would never turn down pancakes unless…

He sprinted up the stairs and burst into her room, just in time to catch her in the middle of a coughing fit. She was still in bed, still in her pyjamas, and she looked terrible.

His heart ached to see his daughter in pain. “Oh lass…”

Webby gave him a weak smile. “Hey, Dad…” She coughed again before she could finish her sentence.

Scrooge walked over to her and sat at the foot of the bed. “Would you like me to fetch you anything?”

Before Webby could answer, Beakley hurried into the room, mostly likely summoned by the coughing fit. She took one look at Webby and said, “I’ll get the thermometer.” And then she was gone again.

The billionaire sighed. He wished he could scoop Webby into his arms and sing to her until she felt better, but he had so much to do. He couldn’t risk getting sick.

“I’ll be fine, Dad,” said the seven-year-old, sensing his turmoil. “You go and order Bradford around like the Big Boss Duck you are.”

He smiled, admiring how Webby could always stay so positive no matter the situation. It had been a hard few months for all of them since the death of Duckworth, and yet Webby had put on a brave face throughout.

“I know you’ll be fine, Webby darling,” he said. “You’re a McDuck.”

She grinned. “And I’m tougher than the toughies!”

Her voice stopped sounding like it was made of sandpaper just for a moment, and Scrooge raised a brow. “Still attached to that American accent, I see?”

“It’s so cool!”

Scrooge rolled his eyes. Beakley had started teaching Webby how to change her accent sometime after her seventh birthday, which also included watching a lot of American TV. Webby had been fascinated from the very start. Throw in his new limo driver Launchpad who Webby thought was the best thing since sliced bread, and it hadn’t taken her long to adopt the accent as her new normal.

Hopefully it was just a fad. Hopefully.

When Beakley returned with the thermometer, Scrooge got to his feet. “I have several important meetings to attend to. But when I get back, you’ll have all of my undivided attention, Webbigail.”

“Oh! You said you were gonna tell me a story about the Terra-Firmians!”

“That I did.” He tipped his hat and winked, getting a smile out of her. “Get well soon, lass.” 


	5. Adopted

In hindsight, Scrooge should have told her from the beginning.

But he’d been afraid. Afraid that she would see him differently if she knew they weren’t blood related. Afraid of how she would treat herself, like she was unworthy of being a McDuck – when she was far more worthy than he would ever be.

Those fears seemed to be coming true before his very eyes. Webby was slouched on the chair in front of him, staring at her feet in what had to be despair.

She’d wanted to know more about Clan McDuck. She had even created a mystery board slash family tree, tracing back Scrooge’s ancestors and mapping out every known relative, even including Donald, Della and the boys. But then… then she’d wanted to know more about her mother’s side of the family.

So, like an innocent nine-year-old, she’d gone to her dad for answers.

But then he wasn’t her dad. Not by blood, at least.

It had been so tempting to lie and make something up; make up a mother for her. But then she’d researched the rest of the family so thoroughly, and he knew she would be able to sniff out the lie without breaking a sweat. It had also been tempting to lie and say that Goldie was her mother. Scrooge had certainly _dreamed_ of the idea of starting a family with Goldie, at least in his younger years.

But then if he could count on Goldie to do one thing, it was to show up out of the blue and mess the whole thing up. Or if he _did_ manage to convince her to go along with it, she’d take to the role _too_ well and teach Webby how to be a con artist.

No. He’d decided that telling her the truth would be the best course of action.

He hadn’t told her everything, of course. Beakley had made it absolutely clear that Webby could never know she came from FOWL, and he agreed. That wasn’t the kind of dark secret a small girl needed on her shoulders. But he _did_ tell her that he had adopted her, and that he had no idea who her biological parents were.

Webby still hadn’t said anything. Then, very slowly, she raised her head to look at him, and with tears in her eyes, she asked, “Do… do you still want to be my dad?”

And all of his fears of her wanting to go off and find her real parents melted away.

Scrooge opened his arms and she leapt into his embrace. He held her close and replied, “Of course I do, Webby darling. I’ll be your dad for as long as you want me.”

“Does forever sound good?”

He smiled, not even bothering to wipe away his own tears. “Forever sounds brilliant.” 


	6. Bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in this AU, the events of canon pretty much happen the same with a few adjustments here and there. For instance, Scrooge never tells Webby she's not part of the family (and that scene is so much more painful now after the finale), but he says something else that upsets Webby. Here's another such scene that's been adjusted to fit the AU.

Scrooge wasn’t surprised to find that Webby had stowed away on the sub. Disappointed that she’d disobeyed him, but not surprised.

“It’s too late to turn back now,” he said. “You’ll have to wait on the sub.”

“No!”

He raised a brow at her. His daughter had been acting weird all morning, starting with what had happened at the breakfast table. It wasn’t unusual for her to make tea for him; she did that on Father’s Day every year. What _was_ unusual was the fact that she drank his tea, too.

Webby hated nutmeg tea. Couldn’t stand the stuff. Yet she’d forced it down, even after he suggested she get herself a glass of juice.

And now… now her hands were clasped behind her back, and her foot was shuffling backwards and forwards along the ground. Something was bothering her. He couldn’t leave her on the sub like this.

Scrooge bent down in front of her so they were eye-level. “Webby darling, you know you can tell me anything?”

She sighed. “I miss you.”

He blinked in surprise. “But I haven’t gone anywhere, lass?”

“No, I mean… I miss it being just us, and Granny,” she said. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. I love having a big family! I love having Huey, Dewey, Louie and Donald living with us. It’s great! Oh, and I love having a best friend! Lena’s the greatest! I just… It feels like it’s been forever since we spent time together. Just the two of us.”

A lot of things _had_ changed, and so quickly. The mansion wasn’t so empty anymore. They were bonding with their family and making new friends. Scrooge hadn’t been so sure about Lena at first; she was older than Webby and seemed like she could be a bad influence. But then he couldn’t talk, since he employed people who were legitimately insane. Plus, Beakley of all people had vouched for the girl.

But getting back to what she was saying, he hadn’t considered that she would be missing him, since he was still technically around. Only he had been spending a lot of time getting to know the boys. She had too – but on the days when she wasn’t…

“Oh Webby, I’m so sorry,” he said. “Tell you what: since you’re here now, why don’t you help me out? We’ll rescue your Granny together.”

“Technically she’s not my granny-”

“Don’t give me that, lass. You know family isn’t connected by blood.”

“I know.”

They hugged – which was interrupted by Launchpad crashing into some rocks.

“Sorry! The blindfold slipped.”

Scrooge sighed. Another reason why Webby could come: she was much safer on a dangerous, life-threatening mission than stuck on a submarine with Launchpad. 


End file.
